This holiday season fans will return to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, but they will do so without Harry Potter.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them takes place several decades before "the boy who lived" was ever born, and so we know we won’t be running into him, or any of his young friends, but since wizards tend to live for awhile, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that we might not run into significantly younger versions of several other Harry Pottercharacters. One of the actors has certainly implied that could be the case.
One of the high points of the newest trailerfor Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was hearing Albus Dumbledore get name dropped at the beginning. We know that our lead character, Newt Scamander, has some sort of relationship and the two appear to be close. This lead MTVto ask one of the film’s supporting players if we might do more than simply hear Dumbledore’s name. Dan Fogler told them this:
As the stories go along, you will hear mention of your favorite characters. And you may meet their young counterparts along the way.
This certainly seems to imply that we will be meeting younger versions of characters that we’re familiar with. While Dan Fogler, who plays the role of Jacob Kowalski in the film, doesn’t give us any specifics about who that could be, which means it isn’t necessarily Dumbledore, he would certainly be the most likely candidate. The trailer itself asks us a question, what makes Dumbledore so fond of Newt Scamander? We assume there is an answer to that question and who better to give it to us than the man himself. Michael Gambon has talked about a young Dumbledoreappearing in the film, so it’s looking like a strong possibility.
It’s far from surprising there would be some attempt to bring in familiar characters into Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them . Fans of the Harry Potter series as a whole will likely flock to this film and while it takes place in the same world, it's so separated by time and geography that odds are, quite a bit will feel different. By dropping in some names, as well as some appearances, the stories can be connected together and Fantastic Beasts can feel more like part of the larger Harry Potter series as opposed to a standalone story.
Which wizarding cameos would you like to see in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them . Is there anybody other than Dumbledore that you’d like to see a younger version of? Let us know in the comments.